RFID technology has conventionally been used in the identification and tracking of products, equipment, and other articles. For example, RFID systems are commonly used in Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) and in logistical and inventory systems for monitoring goods and equipment and recording information on the target item. An RFID system typically includes an RFID reader and an RFID device such as a tag or label. The RFID reader may transmit a Radio-Frequency (“RF”) carrier signal to the RFID device. The RFID device may respond to the RF carrier signal (or interrogator signal) with a data response signal (or authentication reply signal) encoded with information stored on the RFID device. RFID devices may store information such as a unique identifier or an Electronic Product Code (“EPC”) associated with an article or item.
The RFID technology allows business owners and other persons to rapidly and/or continuously (a) identify products, assets and people, (b) count products, assets and people, and (c) track locations of products, assets and people. As such, the RFID technology offers significant benefits over a physical inventory counting process. By leveraging the RFID technology to increase inventory accuracy, retailers are better able to perform replenishment, service customer requests, manage product recalls or any other activities that rely on inventory data. Products on the market today to aid in determining a product's identification and/or location are too expensive, bulky and/or heavy. For example, some handheld RFID tag readers are bulky, heavy and need to be physically carried by a person through a facility. Cellphone integrated RFID tag readers are expensive since a special dongle is needed for enabling the RFID tag reading operations.
Despite the advantages of the above described RFID solutions, they do not provide knowledge of where in a facility the inventory is kept. Knowledge of this can help retailers in a number of ways. Therefore there is a need for an improved inventory solution.